Messed Up Past
by Izzybearboo
Summary: Nathan Algren died of old age and was sent back into the past thanks to Indian spirits. For their amusement, he was sent back as a girl.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A good many years after the battle, Nathan Algren died. It was a peaceful death. But Nathan was upset that he died because of old age and not on the battlefield.

Unknown to him, Indian spirits watched over him while he suffered from memories of those he killed. They were pleased when he stopped drinking and when the nightmares stopped. They watched as he passed away in the night.

However they wanted entertainment. And Nathan Algren was their first choice. They summoned his spirit and gave him a new body on the earth. They sent a vision Simon of a body lying in the woods, a tiger, and a warrior. He searched the forest and found the body of a woman who seemed to have passed out.

She had scars all over her body. A flag with a tiger was draped across her and a tomahawk was in her hand.

Simon forgot his strange "dream" and focused on getting the woman some medical help.

A few days later the woman still wouldn't wake up. Simon ended up caring for her like he would a sister and tried his best to find something to help her.

Bagley was planning to take Simon to see the meeting between Katsumoto and the Emperor. The meeting would take place next week.

Zebulon became good friends with Simon and also had a soft spot for the girl. He helped search for a cure, but they could find nothing.

Three days before the meeting, at two in the morning Nathan Algren finally opened her eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Nathan only remembered seeing blurred out figures dance around him to the beat of the drum. Smoke filled his lungs. Every scar on his body burned. Then laughter.

Not an evil laughter, but one of joy. It was nice to listen to, and it distracted him from the burning.

"Time to start over." said a very familiar voice.

When Nathan opened his eyes he was met with an unfamiliar ceiling. His throat was incredibly soar. Every muscle in his body was stiff.

Something was wrong. He felt lighter. The stuff in the room seem slightly bigger than what Nathan was used to.

Nathan saw a mirror and approached it.

His, or should I say her, eyes widen.

"Ah, ah ah, ah, ah,...ah." Nathan began to hyperventilate.

Nathan stumbled backwards at fell into a table. A familiar bag and tomahawk fell off the floor.

She could hear footsteps approaching and grabbed a tomahawk off the floor and pressed herself against the door.

When the door opened she grabbed the first figure that walked in, and held the tomahawk against his throat.

"Oh my." gasped a fat man that came in after the man she grabbed.

"Please calm down dear." said a familiar voice.

It took her a while to realize that she was looking at Simon and she had Gant in a hold.

Nathan stumbled back at the force of the shock.

Simon was young. Gant was alive.

Nathan fell into darkness.

As Nathan came back to conciseness some crazy ideas went into his, I mean, her head. And when she opened her eyes to the sight of Gant and Simon she thought that even if this was a dream, she wouldn't want to wake up.

"Are you alright? You gave us quit a scare." said Simon giving her a glass of water.

"How long?" asked Nathan drinking the water.

"I found you around a week or 2 ago. You were in the forest. Do you know how you got there? Is there someone we can contact?" asked Simon.

"Calm down." said Gant chuckling "Give the girl some time to rest. In the mean time do you think we can take her to the meeting?"

"What meeting?" asked Nathan.

"I don't think-" Simon was cut off by Gant.

"The Emperor and Matsumoto."

"As in the rebel leader?" asked Nathan trying to understand the situation she was in.

"You have heard of him?" asked Simon.

"...Yes" replied Nathan.

"By the way what is your name?" asked Gant.

"Nathan Algren." said Nathan.

Gant choked on his drink and Simon gave a surprised gasp.

"Isn't that a man's name?" asked Simon.

"Yes, but it is also my name." said Nathan giving him a glare.

"Where did you get this bag and tomahawk?" asked Gant trying to change the conversation.

"It was given to me." replied Nathan trying to come up with an excuse.

"By Indians? I am terribly sorry but I looked in your bag to see if there was something that could help us see who you were. Do you speak their tongue?" Simon began to get bold with his questions.

"Yes, but I am not going to say something like 'boil him in oil' or something like. And I won't demonstrate scalping." said Nathan.

Simon looked disappointed. Gant just laughed.

They talked late into the night. Nathan agreed to go to the meeting. If she was stuck in the past she might as well as fix somethings.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

For the next two days Nathan got used to her new body. Apparently the male Nathan Algren never existed. Because he was now a woman people treated her as if she would break, even more so if they knew about her being in a coma for around two weeks.

She filled in a few blanks on the Indians for Simon, and Gant found a drinking buddy in her. The situation got to her and she found herself drinking like she did in her past life.

Nathan performed a ritual for the spirits, but only received a vision of many figures in the shadows. And a knife hovering over her.

Today was the day of the meeting. They got there early and Nathan ended up losing Gant and Simon. She sat on some steps, drinking, thinking of how she could convince the Emperor to stop the fighting with Katsumoto and leave the village alone.

A weak cough came from behind her. Nathan turned around to see the Emperor, that same lost look in his eyes.

"You look lost." Nathan said without thinking.

"I assure you I know my way around here miss." he replied.

"I didn't mean it like that." Nathan said before she could stop the words.

"Then what did you mean?" he said with raised eyebrows.

"You look like you could use some advice." Nathan took another swing from her canteen.

"I need to make a decision." he said.

"I figured that much." Nathan chuckled. "You don't want to fight Katsumoto. I'm not here to change your mind about anything. I just know things. You're nation is forgetting their roots. Make your own way, but don't forget. You can't expect people to change their ways in a few days. People like Katsumoto are why you guys are here fight when all he wants to do is serve you."

The Emperor just looked at her with his mouth open.

Nathan sighed and stood up.

"I don't expect you to listen to me, but take what I said into consideration. I'm sorry if I spook out of turn. You looked as if you could use someone who wouldn't bow down to you and say they agree to every decision you make. It would be a shame to see this beautiful nation turn into something ugly."

With that Nathan walked away, leaving him to his thoughts.

"Nathan!" shouted out Gant, "we have been looking all over for you."

But Nathan was too distracted by looking at a familiar face.

Ujio.

The same man who taught Nathan how to fight was walking past her when they locked eyes. It was like that time all those years ago when he beheaded a man on the streets and walked by Nathan.

Next to him was a man with familiar eyes. Nathan couldn't remember him.

"That was samurai." said Simon looking after their retreating figures.

"Proud ones by the looks of it." Simon gave a wistful sigh, "What I would do to get a picture."

Nathan and Gant just smirked.

"Simon! Gant! The meeting is about to start." Bagley appeared behind them. His eyes landed on Nathan.

"And who is this?" he smirked and grabbed Nathan's hand and kissed it.

Nathan slapped his hands away.

His old superior was putting the moves on him. Gross!

Gant stepped between them.

"This is Nathan Algren. She will be attending the meeting as Simon's assistant."

"I see," he said with a frown "Please excuse me." With that he stalked off.

"Gross." Nathan couldn't stop the word from escaping her mouth.

Gant gave a loud laugh and patted her on the back.

As they approached the door that lead to the meeting room Simon began muttering instructions under his breath on what to do.

Nathan already knew this by heart and tuned him out. Her thoughts drifting to the man with familiar eyes. Those eyes refused to leave her head.

Nathan snapped to attention when the doors opened.

Many eyes fell on her form. Some interest, and others shock that a woman was wearing men's clothing.

Nathan could hardly find it in her self to give a damn.

The eyes of Katsumoto looked upon her with interest. He was probably going through his knowledge of the Americans to see if he remembered something about women wearing pants.

Nathan could barely look upon him with tears coming to her eyes.

An American representative started off the meeting with telling the Emperor he needed to sign a contract.

Before things could progress the Emperor told him the contract was not in the best interest of his people.

The room erupted with chatter.

Katsumoto gave the Emperor a look of shock.

But the Emperor seeked out Nathan's eyes and gave her a small bow.

This gained the attention of everyone in the room, especially when Nathan bowed back.

"This is an outrage!" the man gave Nathan a glare and stalked out of the room.

As the Emperor began to speak Nathan slipped out of the room.

Nathan walked around the city lost in thought. The Emperor would stop the fighting and Katsumoto and his men shall live.

Then it hit her.

The man with familiar eyes was Hirotaro.

Taka's husband was still alive. Taka could never love Nathan again.

A tear slipped down Nathan's face.

The sound of whispers brought her back to reality.

"Katsumoto…..prisoner….ambush."

Those words angered Nathan. She knew what would happen.

Someone would kill Katsumoto and his men. The samurai would die again.

Nathan couldn't let that happen. She took of running.

Nathan burst into the room where Gant and Simon were.

"Katsumoto-huff-huff-danger-huff." gasped Nathan.

Nathan launched into her story of what happened. Gant's frown grew, and Simon grew pale. He fainted.

"Listen Nathan," said Gant "we have to do something. Stall them maybe. We may not have much time to alert anybody."

"Omura may be behind this." said Nathan thinking of the man.

He was behind it last time. He might be at it again.

"It may be too late." said Nathan "But I have an idea on how we can stop Katsumoto from dying."

They left Simon on the floor with a note on his face saying, not to tell anyone and act like nothing is wrong. They don't know how long they will be gone and keep his mouth shut.

Nathan and Gant went separate ways. Gant was to gether horses ready and Nathan needed to find a few people.

Nathan saw the backs of the people she was looking for. A group of men approaching them. Katsumoto's men were unarmed and did not see the men advancing.

Her instincts kicked in.

Nathan ran at full force shouting out to the group of men who barely started to draw their swords.

Nathan tackled one of them into an alley.

The others followed their comrade ready to assist him.

The man she tackled drew his sword but Nathan grabbed his arm and used the sword in his hand to block the attack of a man behind her.

She spun around and kicked a man in the chin, ripping the sword out of his hands, Natha found herself out of the alley surrounded.

Nathan was not aware of the crowd filled with familiar people.

In a second Nathan was spinning around in a complicated dance filled with blocking attacks and trying to get a hit on one of them.

Nathan hit one in the neck with her sword. Slashed anothers stomach. An ducked when two made a move to stab her, and ended up stabbing each other. She cut their legs making them fall on the floor.

Nathan was swarmed with memories of fighting like this. She did not see the figure advancing out of the shadows.

She stood up wiping the blood from her face when an arrow whized past her and hit a man behind her with his sword raised high.

Nathan gave a little gasp and looked at the direction which the arrow came from.

Nobutada had another arrow ready to fly if the men got up again.

"Excuse me." he said "A lady shouldn't be out-"

"Katsumoto is in trouble." Nathan cut him off.

The other men could not understand what they were talking about, but when Nobutada explained to them they all snapped to attention.

"My friend and I are going to get him out but we need some help."

Nobutada nodded, "What can we do?"

It took awhile to convince Nobutada to stay with the horses. But Nathan refused to let him die again and was more stubborn than him.

Ujio and Hirotaro would be disguised and follow Nathan to find Katsumoto.

The others would stay outside and get ready to cover them.

They were all hesitant to let Nathan go in, despite what she said about being able to fight. The only reason she Hirotaro come instead of just Ujio was because he wouldn't give up on the idea that as a woman she needed extra help.

Nathan did not reveal that she could speak Japanese and found great humor in their argument of who would protect her.

As they reached the entrance, Nathan spoke Japanese and used the president excuse to get by the shocked guards. The embarrassed warriors followed her.

Nathan told the men to wait out of the room until she gave the signal, and to take care of the guards.

She was met with the sight of Katsumoto's back.

"I heard you were writing a poem." the only words she could think of slipped out of her mouth.

Katsumoto spun around, shocked.

"The end is proving difficult."

"I am here to help you escape."

Katsumoto chuckled, "And, how do you plan on doing that?"

Thuds outside the door answered him. Ujio and Hriotaro opened the door and bowed to him.

Nathan motioned for them to follow her to the exit.

As they were outside Nathan thought that maybe this would be easier than they thought.

"Stop!" shouted a guard and shot at them.

They raced towards the trees and were met with Gant and three other of Katsumoto's men.

Other guards joined in on shooting at them.

"We need an opening." said Nathan.

"Leave it to me." said Gant.

Gant stepped out from behind the trees and shot at the guards with a pistol in each hand.

Gant stumbled back behind the trees with a blood stain growing on his chest.

"We need to get out of here." said Nathan rushing towards Gant.

"Go." said Gant giving out a grunt of pain.

"I'm not going to leave you here." said Nathan moving to pull him up.

"No offence, but shove it up your ass." was the only reply she got.

Nathan gave him a teary eye smile and said to him in Indian.

"Farewell brother."

Gant smiled at her and gave her a bracelet made of braided string with a silver celtic tree symbol pendant.

Nathan stood with up, pulling out his sword and handing it to him. They bumped their forearms together in a silent farewell.

She turned around and looked at the men.

"Let's go."

Nathan stayed behind to give Gant one last look. A searing, familiar pain in her side alerted her of a stray bullet.

Nobody noticed her moment of hesitation.

Nathan ran after the others until they reached the horses.

When they reached the horses, Nathan saw one with a familiar bag and tomahawk attached to the saddle. This time her hesitance was noticed.

Ujio hoisted her onto the horse. He hit its legs spurring it into a run behind the others.

The pain in her side began to grow.

They seemed to speed up every passing second.

Black spots danced in her vision as they grew near the village.

Nathan couldn't tell how much time passed they spent riding. The pain took up most of her thoughts.

She had dealt with more than a single bullet and pushed the pain out of her head. But for some reason this pain wouldn't be ignored and grew.

The entrance of the village came closer and Nathan found herself falling into darkness.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Whenever Nathan opened her eyes all she saw were hazy images. She remembered seeing the faces of Katsumoto, Taka, Higen, Hirotaro, and Nobutada floating in a sea of colors.

Gentle hands brought her out of unconsciousness. The familiar hands of Taka. The one who will never love Nathan. Even in his previous life he knew she always had a small bit of hate for him.

Blinking back tears she grabbed her hand.

"Thank you." Nathan said in a shaky breath.

Taka's eyes widened slightly and she rushed out of the room. Nathan fell back into the darkness.

Unlike the last time Nathan was being taken cared of in this room, Nathan's sleep was not plagued with blood. It was filled with the familiar rolling hills. The sound of hoofbeats filled her ears. Buffalo were grazing and familiar men were on top of horse getting ready to take a buffalo home for meat.

The sight brought tears to her eyes. It was then she realised she was now a he.

He was not wearing a uniform, but clothes like the Indians wore.

There was the sound of children laughing. Nathan tried to follow it. He followed it into a dim light, and woke up.

The laughter from his dream didn't stop, just changed. It was many people laughing. Nathan looked out of the cracked door. It was night.

As Nathan stood up she was disappointed to see she was still female. When she slowly opened the door she walked out to see people gathered around a small stage.

Something about this scene made Nathan tense up like she was getting ready to fight. Katsumoto jumped onto the stage and joined the actors.

Nathan looked up onto the roof and saw a shadow. It suddenly hit her.

"Katsumoto!" she yelled.

He turned his head towards her just in time as an arrow flew and hit the actor behind him.

Everybody rose into a panic. Woman tried to get the children into a safe place while the men drew their swords, ready to fight the intruders.

Everywhere Nathan looked people were fighting. Seeing the face of Taka trying to get out with her children, Nathan grabbed her hand and raced towards the house.

When the were inside, Taka brought the kids to a corner and crouched down in front of them like a shield. Nathan saw a sword leaning against the wall and quickly grabbed it, ready to fight.

A ninja came in and was met with Nathan. He dodged and blocked her attacks. He punched her in the gut and flipped her over his shoulder onto a table.

The sword slid across the room. Just as Nathan was about to reach for it a foot planted itself onto her face, trying to press her face onto a sword.

The sword cut her cheek, leaving a thin trail of blood running down her face.

"Higen!" yelled out Taka.

Higen grabbed the fallen sword and tried to help Nathan, another ninja came into the room and stopped him.

It didn't take long for the ninja to yank the sword out of his hand and push him on the floor.

Nathan gave a burst of strength and reached for a chopstick and stabbed his ankle with all the strength she could muster. Pushing him off she jumped onto the ninja who was getting ready to kill Higen.

The one who Nathan stabbed with a chopstick rose from the ground and charged at her. Taka pulled out a knife and stabbed him.

The ninja jumped onto his back trying to crush Nathan. She reached out for Higen to give her the sword, while her other arm was locked around the ninja's neck.

Just as the sword was in her reach the ninja jumped up. Nathan was quicker and grabbed the sword and slashed his throat.

The sound of footsteps rushing toward the room had Nathan's sword raised above her head ready to bring it down on the intruders.

Katsumoto bursted in with his sword ready to, and two nameless faces behind him. Both froze at the sight of each other.

The silence that stretched between them allowed them to hear the sound of footsteps on the roof.

Katsumoto and his men followed the sound until it stopped. Three ninjas ran through the door surprising everyone.

One of the ninja cut one of Katsumoto's men and advanced on Nathan.

Nathan's body was not used to fighting yet, since it was so weak. She found herself getting tired fast. There was a small tear in her side where the gunshot wound reopened. The pain began to make itself known.

She felt her back press against the wall and she suddenly ducked from the blade. Using the moment, she stabbed him.

Looking over to KAtsumoto she saw a ninja sneaking up on him. Shifting her grip, she threw the sword. It hit the ninja's throat and gave Katsumoto time to kill his opponent.

There was the sound of the victory cheer outside.

Nathan slipped back into darkness.

…

Nathan awoke to the sound of birds and the bright sunlight in her face.

She saw her clothes cleaned and folded beside her and got up to get dressed. She tied the bracelet Gant gave her on her wrist.

The sun hurt her eyes when she stepped out. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the familiar figure of Bob. Trying to mask the tears in her eyes with a blank stare. She ignored him and started to walk.

As she walked down a familiar path she noticed people staring at her. The children looked at her with curiosity. It wasn't as bad as last time Nathan walked down this path in her last life.

The men were in the fields training. Nathan noticed when she passed by they stopped to stare.

The stares she got from them were judging. A woman able to fight with a katana. They probably noticed she was trained. And an American!

Nathan could only imagine what was going through their heads.

The walk was long and Nathan's wounds throbbed painfully.

Bob was still following her.

Nathan arrived at the temple. The sakura trees were almost bare. Winter was coming soon. It looked as though Nathan would be stuck here again.

The question was how could Nathan keep it together when she was surrounded by men who should be dead and his lover who doesn't remember.

While Nathan was deep in thought she didn't notice her walking up the stairs or Bob giving her a strange look.

Stepping inside she was met with Katsumoto giving her a calculating look.

He gave her a bow, "My name is Katsumoto."

Nathan felt her throat tighten up. Her eyes burned with unshed tears. Katsumoto lying on the ground bleeding filled her mind.

"...considered good manners to introduced yourself." Katsumoto's voice brought her back to reality.

It was still too hard to look him in the eye and talk.

"I only wish to know the name of my savior."

"Nathan Algren."

She could feel his eyes on her.

"This was a very good conversation." he said.

"Wait." Nathan said.

Katsumoto looked back to her.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked.

"Yes." he said thinking she would talk more and reveal of few things.

Nathan grunted gave a bow and walked out.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Nathan didn't stop until she reached Taka's home. Her eyes burned with unshed tears. It was like a growing weight was placed on her chest and it was about to crush her.

As she was about to walk in the house Nathan remembered all the trouble she caused with her dirty feet last time. Calmly slipping off her shoes she ignored Bob's gaze and went inside.

She heard laughter coming from the other room. Nathan walked to the direction of her room praying nobody would notice her. Sadly, the noise died down and Nathan fought the urge to meet their eyes.

"Come eat with us, please." Nobutada walked over to her with his giant smile.

The others gave her polite nods as she sat down. Nathan was stuck in between Higen and Nobutada. Taka had her head bowed and was picking at her rice. Hirotaro was giving her a hard look along with Magojiro.

Nathan recognized that face and was prepared for him to open his mouth and show her his chewed up food. Nathan just gave him a blank look and opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out before turning back to her food like nothing had happened.

Taka gave him a quiet scolding. Hirotaro's eyes softened and Higen and Nobutada couldn't hide their smiles.

Taka was cleaning up the rice on his face when he looked over her shoulder at Nathan. She glanced up at him and gave him a small smile. Hirotaro just looked at them and went back to his meal, making a show of it so Nobutada and Higen would follow his lead.

The rest of the meal was spent in a comfortable silence. At the end a friend of Higen's called him out to play. Taka took Magojiro somewhere and Hirotaro and Nobutada were discussing something so Nathan took it upon herself to watch over Higen.

Nathan heard Bob's footsteps behind her as she stepped out the door and into the rain. The boys were playing with their wooden kanatas. Higen was winning, of course. A blow knocked the sword out of Higen's friend and it slid in front of Nathan's feet.

She reached down to pick it up and tried to hand it back to the boy. He refused to take and instead bowed to Nathan. Nathan looked to Higen for help but he slid into a stance ready for her to fight him.

Slowly Nathan swung the sword in her hand and slid into a familiar stance. She did not see the approaching figures.

Higen rushed at her but Nathan took a step back and blocked his attack.

He made another move but Nathan just stepped aside. This went on for a while with Nathan blocking and dodging Higen's attacks.

Someone cleared their throat behind Nathan. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Ujio and some of the other samurai that helped him train Nathan in the past. Nathan did have a soft spot for the biggest one, Kenta, since when he was betting on Nathan he believed Nathan would last longer because he was improving.

Higen gave Ujio a bow and handed him his sword. Nathan noticed Hirotaro, Nobutada, Taka, and Magojiro were watching on the porch.

Nathan twirled the sword and slide into her stance. Ujio did the same. She took a deep breath and locked eyes with Ujio.

They both seemed to move at the same time. Their swords clashed together. Ujio was bigger and stronger than Nathan now so she knew it wouldn't be was a good thing Nathan didn't just relaie on her strength back then.

It was like they were dancing. Ujio blocked her attacks while trying to land a blow on her. Nathan let her feet slide in the mud as she blocked the oncoming attacks.

Both were equally matched. But Nathan's new body wasn't used to this yet. She knew her body would soon give in. And the look in Ujio's eyes told her that if she let her guard down once he would make it painful.

They spun around but Nathan was ready for the final move. Like last time their swords were just inches away from their necks.

It was a tie.

Nathan heard the intakes of breath. Ujio looked at her in shock.

"It's a tie." Nathan heard behind her.

Slowly she lowered her sword and gave Ujio a short respectful bow. He returned it, his eyes still showed how shocked he was.

Nathan handed the sword to Higen and walked back up to the house.

Hirotaro had a blank stare but Nobutada's mouth was hanging open. Taka was carrying Magojiro, whose face had a giant grin.

….

The next morning was nice. It wasn't raining and Nathan had a good night's rest. During breakfast Nathan had the chance to introduce herself.

Nobutada just kept saying "Aluugren."

Higen got it in the first few tries. Hirotaro said her name right on the first try and gave her a nod. Nathan hoped he didn't hate her for some reason.

Taka was as silent as ever, and it hurt Nathan. She still loved Taka.

After breakfast Nathan started to help Taka with the chores.

"You don't have to do this. You are a guest." she said.

"I'm not like most guests." Nathan replied.

Nathan did her best to help. They finished it in a few hours and sat down to enjoy some tea. There was a small smile on Taka's face.

It fell when Higen burst into the room.

"Algren-san!" he shouted and started to drag her out of the house.

He didn't let go of her hand as he pulled her down the path. Nathan had to walk fast to keep up, but every once in a while she would trip over her feet when Higen yanked on her arm. Bob followed behind, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

Higen lead her to the training ground. Ujio was talking to his friends who were clustered around him.

"Ujio-san." Higen said.

He turned around his eyes immediately fell on Nathan. He nodded to Higen who scampered off.

Nathan felt the many eyes looking her over. Their faces weren't happy but they weren't angry.

Ujio approached her. He looked her up and down, his eyes stayed on her visible scars for a few seconds more than they should. He grunted and tossed her a bamboo sword.

Thanks to her fast reflexes she caught. She looked at him with an uneasy look.

He just barked out an order and the others got in a line ready to practice. Kenta took her by the shoulder and put her next to him.

The drill was one she knew from the last time and had no problem keeping up. But since her body wasn't used to it Ujio had to correct her once. The memories of training with them came back.

It went on like this for a couple of hours before they had a break for lunch. Higen brought her some lunch Taka made and Kenta dragged her over to his friends. Ujio and Hirotaro joined them after few minutes of talking and glancing at Nathan every often.

Some of the younger men, most likely new to the training, started to spar. Kenta started to bet with the others on who would win. Ujio, Hirotaro, and Nathan just watched.

When Nathan was done Ujio handed her a bamboo sword. He nodded to the ones who were sparring.

"Takeru! Your turn." he barked out.

The man who stepped forward looked cocky. He won against who ever he went against. Of course all the people he went against were not very good.

Ujio pushed Nathan forward. Not stopping she walked to Takeru.

He scoffed, "Is this a joke?"

Nathan just just raised the sword.

He laughed and charged at her. Nathan delivered a blow to his stomach and as he kneeled over one on his back that made him stand up straight.

There were a few laughs. The loudest came from Kenta.

"Try not to break them, Algren-san." Hirotaro said sipping his tea.

Nathan looked over her shoulder and gave him a blank stare.

"Don't take your eyes off-" Takeru grabbed her shoulder.

Before he could finish the sentence Nathan grabbed his hand and flipped him. She put her foot to his back and twisted his arm.

"Algren." Ujio called her back.

Kenta pat her on the back as she sat down. She grabbed her canteen of whiskey and took a swing. The men didn't say anything about it and went back to placing bets.

They moved onto hand to hand combat. Kenta was paired with Nathan much to her displeasure. Last time Nathan was thrown around like a rag doll. It was like last time but after being thrown down three times Kenta stopped.

He helped her up, "You are fast but not very strong. We need to work on giving you some muscle."

Someone gave a grunt behind Nathan. It was Ujio. He looked at Kenta and gave him a nod.

He spent the next few hours helping Nathan with hand to hand combat. Some of the other men shouted out pointers to her. Katsumoto joined them and started to train next to Nathan.

Nathan couldn't look him in the eye and avoided him during the rest of the training. Higen came by to call Hirotaro and Nathan back to the house. Hirotaro stayed behind to talk to Ujio and Katsumoto.

"Don't worry." said Nobutada "You are different than others, they do not know what to do. It is not a bad thing."

So Nathan was stuck walking with Higen, Nobutada, and Bob. For some reason Bob walked a little closer to Nathan than before. It could just be her imagination.

….

The girl was strange. Katsumoto was curious about her, nobody knew what Ujio thought of her. Hopefully she earned a small amount of respect from him like the others had.

Katsumoto placed the girl under Seizo's watch. The first few days were uneventful because she was stuck in the room recovering. Seizo wanted to train with the others but couldn't.

Then she woke up. She helped fight against the ninjas and protected Hirotaro's family as well as Katsumoto. Word of her actions spread across the village, nobody knew what to think of her. She was not like most Americans.

It didn't take long for Seizo to see her in a different light.

His wife died in childbirth and his son left to join the growing western culture. Seizo was alone.

When he watched the one they called Algren he saw a part of her nobody else saw. He saw the tears stuck in her eyes and the pain on her face when she thought nobody was looking. The blank look she always had on scared him.

She was just a young woman. Stuck in a place foreign to her. Nobody to rely on, not a shoulder to cry on, or family.

Seizo always wanted a daughter. What was left of his family abandoned him. And she was the lost one Seizo wanted to protect. She didn't have someone here, Seizo wanted to be that someone.

Nobody had to know. Seizo would follow her for as long as he could and protect her like he would his family. Seizo even dared to hope that one day she would call him father, and he could call her daughter.

I didn't know the names of the other samurai so I got them from the names of the actors from the samurai ensemble. I couldn't find any names to match the faces. Seizo is the guy who played Bob.


End file.
